April 17, 2025
It’s with great sadness that I share the news that we had to return Cloudy back to the Animal Care League. As much as we tried, Cloudy and Hugo just didn’t get along – despite all the attempts and bonding sessions we held for them.
This outcome is challenging, for a few reasons. We’re old hands at bonding, and so Liz and I felt like we were familiar with the process. This is by no means our first rodeo, and we know the ups and downs of bunny bonding – we know what it takes, and we’re not ones to easily give up.
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April 15, 2025
It’s a bit hard to see. Her nose has a natural, dark patch of fur – but from her nose to her eye, that dark run shouldn’t be there. That came from her investigations, and her trying to get into the fireplace.
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April 14, 2025
Liz and I are not used to this happening. And whenever it does, we shout out to one another to announce its occurrence. We’ll yell out “Hot Licks!” to let the other know that Cloudy is grooming us, and that Cloudy really, really likes us.
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April 8, 2025
It’s not quite a “last resort,” but it’s close. During our bonding session tonight with Hugo and Cloudy, we decided to bring in some baby food – as a way to entice some grooming.
When one bunny grooms another, it’s a positive sign. And there’s this whole power dynamic to it all, in terms of who is in charge (the one being groomed).
But for us, we’re wanting to encourage this grooming along. Hugo did groom Cloudy a while back, but it’s been a while now. And so far, Cloudy hasn’t willingly groomed Hugo back.
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April 6, 2025
We did something like this a long time ago, with Baxter and Quincy. And our hope tonight is that Hugo and Cloudy would get a little closer together, having gone through something stressful together.
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April 4, 2025
So far, Lizhas been doing all of the bonding sessions. She’s been sitting with both Hugo and Cloudy, keeping them separated as needed, and then trying to encourage them to get together (carefully, without biting).
Tonight, we decided to change things up and let me sit in, instead. Their sessions tend to go longer, as it takes them some time to calm down. So probably an hour for them to settle, and then another hour to see if they’ll get along.
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April 3, 2025
I think this move is meaningful because it’s a sign of trust. And Liz is always over the moon, when it happens. But I also think it’s an indicator of how fearless Cloudy is – she reminds us a lot of Phineas, in that way.
Even with her just having one eye, you can see that she is scoping out the full length and breadth of her domain.
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March 31, 2025
While I’ve seen many bunny flops in my time, I have never, ever seen any bunny pursue flops with such frequency and… aggression? When she flops, Cloudy really, really flops.
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March 26, 2025
I came down this morning to a bit of a shock. I had heard some rustling and gate-banging earlier, and walked downstairs to see… Hugo. Outside his pen area, bold as brass.
He actually looked a little confused. And that would make both of us.
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March 25, 2025
There was this special moment, where Cloudy flopped right next to Hugo. It’s always a little dicey when they get this close, because anything could happen – and things could get violent/aggressive very quickly. But it worked out well.
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March 12, 2025
We set up a separate area, which was different from both of their current areas. The idea is to have some kind of “neutral ground” that doesn’t technically belong to either of them, so that there’s less of a chance of any territorial behavior.
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March 11, 2025
Bit of a staredown in this photo. Blocks of wood are to prevent them from pushing the gates together, and getting too close.
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March 8, 2025
A quick bunny bonding primer: if there is some interest, that’s a good sign. If there’s a really strong interest, there’s the potential for strong reactions. If two bunnies get into a fight, it can get nasty (and dangerous) quite quickly. So the screen is to help provide a bit of a barrier.
If the bunnies are indifferent or mostly ignoring one another, that’s actually a good sign.
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